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Phoradendron bolleanum; photograph Arturo Castro Castro, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF CC BYArturo Castro Castro, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF

Phoradendron bolleanum (Seem.) Eichler

Bollean mistletoe; Dense mistletoe; Fir mistletoe

Viscaceae · Texas, Mexico Central +3

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Phoradendron bolleanum, photograph Arturo Castro Castro, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph Arturo Castro Castro, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph Arturo Castro Castro, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIFPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph M. Socorro González Elizondo, CC BY-SA, iNaturalist via GBIFPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph M. Socorro González Elizondo, CC BY-SA, iNaturalist via GBIFPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph M. Socorro González Elizondo, CC BY-SA, iNaturalist via GBIF 15 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-1.7°C
Record low -8.2 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
26°C
May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
714mm
6 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
27–50DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes June to September, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Phoradendron bolleanum, commonly called Bollean mistletoe, is a species of plant in the sandalwood family that is native to the desert southwest, California and southern Oregon in the United States and Mexico.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Phoradendron bolleanum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (493 mm of 685 mm) falls in June to September, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 18.6 °C against a yearly mean of 15.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to March.

Rain

685 mm in the median year at the habitat, 493 mm of it June to September. Wettest month July at 145 mm, driest months (2 at 14 mm). Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 328 mm to 1,309 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 714 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 685 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 27 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 21, the highest 90th-percentile month 54).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -1.7 °C, the absolute minimum -8.2 °C, 433 frost nights in 44 years, 9.8 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.5 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 3.5 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -0.7 °C to 7.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.8 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 45 to 61% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +359 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Phoradendron bolleanum through the yearWarmest month May, mean daily high 26 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 3.5 °C; 685 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost32.5° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-8.2° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 27–50RH 45–61%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 223 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C16 / 13–2118 / 14–2321 / 17–2523 / 20–2826 / 21–3025 / 22–3224 / 20–3224 / 20–3223 / 19–3022 / 18–2619 / 16–2317 / 13–21
Night °C4 / -1–74 / 0–86 / 1–108 / 4–1311 / 6–1514 / 10–1813 / 10–2013 / 10–1913 / 9–1810 / 6–156 / 3–114 / 0–8
Rain mm34 / 16–6020 / 12–5114 / 4–4714 / 4–4521 / 3–6994 / 3–188145 / 28–316136 / 37–266118 / 21–21946 / 13–10219 / 11–4924 / 10–56
DLI28 / 23–3134 / 29–3842 / 37–4548 / 41–4950 / 42–5344 / 38–5439 / 34–5038 / 34–4635 / 31–4134 / 30–3630 / 25–3327 / 21–30
RH %49 / 46–5648 / 44–5546 / 40–5545 / 39–5547 / 40–5956 / 41–6561 / 44–6861 / 47–6761 / 46–6855 / 46–6450 / 45–5950 / 46–57
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 223 grid cells holding the 275 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1361:1543 (21.925, -102.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -8.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.5 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 223 distinct grid cells holding 275 of the 275 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1361:1543 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 22.00_-103.125, lapse-corrected +359 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2305 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeTexas, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker23.342, -104.287 · in the densest population, 117 records (29% of those in range)
Kew's description“subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 410 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 275 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 330 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 18 km away. 358 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 135 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 410 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Phoradendron bolleanum, photograph 1did not loadPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph 2did not loadPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph 3did not loadPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph 4did not loadPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph 5did not loadPhoradendron bolleanum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: Arturo Castro Castro, CC BY, iNaturalist via GBIF (3); M. Socorro González Elizondo, CC BY-SA, iNaturalist via GBIF (3).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Dalea versicolor Dalea versicolor Oakwoods prairie clover Photo: CC BY, Ian McFaulZuloagaea bulbosa Zuloagaea bulbosa Bulb panic grass Photo: CC BY, Zihao WangStachys coccinea Stachys coccinea Scarlet hedgenettle Photo: CC BY, John ThomlinsonEcheandia flavescens Echeandia flavescens Torrey's craglily Photo: CC BY, John ThomlinsonBaccharis pteronioides Baccharis pteronioides Yerba de pasmo Photo: CC BY, Ulises PinedoPinus cembroides Pinus cembroides Mexican nut pine Photo: CC BY, Sam Kieschnick

Other Phoradendron 10 in the reference

Phoradendron brachystachyum Phoradendron brachystachyum Viscaceae Photo: CC BY, Erick Vélez SánchezPhoradendron californicum Phoradendron californicum Acacia mistletoe Photo: CC BY, Jo RobertsPhoradendron carneum Phoradendron carneum Viscaceae Photo: CC BY, Ulises PinedoPhoradendron coryae Phoradendron coryae Cory's mistletoe Photo: CC BY, CK2AZPhoradendron juniperinum Phoradendron juniperinum Incense cedar mistletoe Photo: CC0, author not statedPhoradendron leucarpum Phoradendron leucarpum Oak mistletoe Photo: CC BY, shinylatias Phoradendron macrophyllum Santalaceae Phoradendron nervosum Phoradendron nervosum Viscaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás Baresch UribePhoradendron quadrangulare Phoradendron quadrangulare Quacimmila de canario Photo: CC BY, Alexis López Hernández Phoradendron villosum Santalaceae

Names & registers

Also known as Phoradendron bolleanum subsp. bolleanum; Phoradendron sedifolium; Phoradendron tequilense; Viscum bolleanum. (GBIF Backbone)

Kew accepts as species of their own Phoradendron saltillense: older names in GBIF's record of this species that Kew's World Checklist accepts as other species. (WCVP, RBG Kew, file of 2026-06-04)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Viscaceae
Described by
(Seem.) Eichler
Native to
Texas, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast +2
Wild records
410 in range · 330 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 22.00_-103.125, lapse-corrected +359 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Phoradendron bolleanum (Seem.) Eichler (the item's: IPNI 550749-1, POWO 30133160-2)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 74 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…